Last weekend, the Kentucky half of the series was played in Louisville, but at Bellarmine's Knights Hall, not Freedom Hall. While it's a charming little facility, complete with a stage at one end, it's hardly the proper setting for the Indiana-Kentucky All-Star Series.

On the other hand, the Indiana half of the engagement is played at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Kind of easy to see which state still considers the annual bragging rights series to be a big deal and which state doesn't, although the Conseco crowd of 6,007 was a bit lacking.

Until a couple of years ago, the series was a two-week extravaganza. Partially because of economics and partially because so many other things are going on, such as high school teams playing in summer leagues and AAU ball, it's mashed into eight days, with one game at Bellarmine on Friday and the other played at Conseco on Saturday. While the overall stature of the series has diminished, it was still a huge honor for Adams to serve as an assistant for the Indiana All-Stars.

"It's an honor to get to wear that jersey, with 'Indiana' across your chest," said Adams, Reitz High School's head coach. "A lot of things have taken the zap out of it. But I'm here to tell you it's still pretty cool to be a part of that experience."

Led by Mr. Basketball and Ohio State-bound Deshaun Thomas, Indiana swept the weekend series from their Kentucky counterparts.

"I can't say enough about how coachable they were," Adams said. "Sometimes when you get a group of all-stars together, you have two or three prima donnas. They were not like that. They were very receptive to being coached."

But they were humbled by the Indiana Junior All-Stars last Wednesday. Two days after losing by 36 points in an exhibition at Fort Wayne, Cody Zeller had 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Juniors posted a 92-78 victory at Rushville. At first, Zeller got lots of attention because of the success of his older brothers, Adams said.

"He got a lot of notoriety before he even was a varsity player," Adams said. "You've got to step up and prove it and he did — he won a (Class 3A) state championship.

"He has really matured. He's gotten taller and longer and he's really skilled. He's just a no-brainer (to be an All-Star next year). He can pick where he wants to go to school."

Zeller has been offered scholarships by Indiana, Purdue, Butler, Florida, Iowa and Ohio State. North Carolina coach Roy Williams, Illinois' Bruce Weber and Michigan's John Beilein also made appearances at the Hatchet House last winter.

Princeton point guard Jalen Packer also helped lead the Junior Stars. Adams loves Packer's unselfishness, his ability to penetrate and finish, handle the ball against pressure and defend. "The thing he needs to work on is to become a more consistent outside shooter," Adams said. "That will come with getting in the gym and working at it. He's another guy who is Division I."

After 20 years as a head coach, playing the assistant's role helped Adams get back to his roots. He also had plenty of time to pick the brains of Indiana head coach Ron Hecklinski of Anderson and assistant Andy Weaver of Western.

"I think I learned that we're doing a lot of good things (at Reitz), as far as how to conduct a practice, what we're doing in the summers, yet I learned a lot," Adams said.

From his days as a graduate assistant under fMarion High legend Bill Green at the University of Indianapolis, Adams learned to follow a familiar pattern — put the best pieces together from different sources and mold them into a formula that fits your personality. "You have to always be yourself."